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Poll: NJ Voters Say No To Gas Tax Hike Again

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CBS) — New Jersey has one of the lowest gasoline taxes in the nation, and a new poll suggests residents want it to stay that way in spite of a dramatic need to find money to fix roads and bridges in the state.

The Rutgers-Eagleton poll approached the question from three different angles. Straight on. Money dedicated to roads and transit. Average cost of 50 cents a day.

It did not matter.

"When we look at those first two versions with no additional context at all, and even with telling them about the benefits of how it would repair state infrastructure, New Jerseyans are solidly against it about 57-58%," Ashley Honing, Assistant Director of the poll told KYW Newsradio. "And then when we talk about the additional cost personally out of New Jerseyans' pockets, they're very much against it at 66% opposed."

The question was shot down even when people were offered a trade of sorts, a commensurate decrease in the estate and inheritance tax.

That's just one option said be to under consideration as Governor Chris Christie and legislative Democrats in Trenton wrestle with a way to replenish New Jersey's depleted Transportation Trust Fund.

It's clear people know of the problem, but the poll suggests they just don't to pay more at the pump. "About anywhere from a quarter to a half think that the roads are either only in fair or poor condition," Honing said, "and they also say that there's not enough money going in to transportation, maintenance and repair in the first place."

Honing says voter sentiment has been pretty consistent on the gas tax for the past year and a half.

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